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Iraq Situation Examined; Florida Storm Damage Assessed

Aired February 04, 2007 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't need the building to have church.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got Jesus. And when we've got Jesus we don't need the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Their church flattened but not their faith. We are there.

On September 11th they were part of a rescue effort. Now many of those dogs are sick and dying. Why? We're going to take a closer look.

And a car accident left her scarred but the surgery to fix that scar left her dead. Now a mother wants answers.

I'm Rick Sanchez. You're in the NEWSROOM.

And hello again, everybody. From here in the CNN NEWSROOM, we're about to take you live to a town in Central Florida. A place knocked down by an act of Mother Nature now climbing up off the canvas.

Two days later, here's how it looks. The aftermath of violent storms that produced at least three tornadoes and left at least 20 people dead. In a moment we're going to be having some of the reports from the scene, a shattered town called Lady Lake.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is there and so is Rusty Dornin. But first, CNN's Susan Roesgen shows us how people can endure horrendous losses and still give thanks on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As the choir praised the rock of Christ, Pastor Larry Lynn stood in the rubble of his church, the first service here since Friday's tornado.

PASTOR LARRY LYNN, CHURCH OF GOD: We look not at the things that are seen, but we look at the things that are not seen. The things that are seen are temporal, are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

ROSENTHAL: In the past, Lady Lake Church of God had been a storm shelter built to withstand 150-mile-an-hour winds. Now the faithful see a deeper meaning in its destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't need the building to have church. You know?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got Jesus. When we've got Jesus, we don't need the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen. We just proved it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt compelled to come back and just support the church -- that this is where I got saved, right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just have to thank the lord that we made it through. And we will pick up from this. And we will go on.

ROSENTHAL: Out of respect for the 20 people killed by the tornado, Florida Governor Charlie Crist joined the congregation and canceled his trip to the Super Bowl.

GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: That's why we'll be here and we'll worship today for them. They are in a better place.

ROSENTHAL: Pastor Lynn says the church will be rebuilt, even though he says it's not the physical building that makes a church, it's the people.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, Lady Lake, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Today the government said that federal aid is arriving and more is on the way. And there's a huge role in this for the local authorities. Live from that part of the story now CNN's Rusty Dornin following it for us. Rusty, what have you got?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, imagine if you were faced with a mess like this, if this was your property. After the shock ran out, then probably the first thing you would want to do is clean up, right?

And there's a lot of sheet metal, you've got plenty of nails. And that's what health officials are worried b. There's a lot of danger in that debris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN (voice-over): After the shock wears off, there's the nasty, dirty business of cleanup. Complete with rusty nails and water that's unsafe to drink.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just making sure everybody is OK health-wise.

DORNIN: So Pam Steinke (ph) of the Lake County Health Department is making the rounds. A woman armed with a weapon to fight infection.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Relax, honey, relax.

DORNIN (on camera): What are the kind of things that crop up in situations like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the immediate thing is tetanus. We're asking people if they've had their tetanus shot because they're removing debris.

DORNIN (voice-over): Here at the Lady Lake Mobile Home Park, few were spared when it came to damage. Local officials were concerned because most here are elderly retirees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I only have a few bruises on my arms.

DORNIN: Many, it turns out, have already had tetanus shots but are happy to take thinks like hand sanitizer and water. Their biggest customers turn out to be disaster relief workers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of debris, with nails and stuff like that. And we're afraid they might get sick or something like that.

DORNIN: Patty Stifler (ph) lives nearby and wanted to lend a hand but forgot about the dangers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Part of my community got hit, but these people -- I cried when I saw this. I just feel I want to be here to help the people.

DORNIN: And you haven't had your tetanus shot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't had a tetanus shot in five years. It's better to be safe than sorry.

DORNIN: Steinke has been amazed how well the storm victims here seem to be handling things but knows that down the line mental health issues are bound to come up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now people want information and they're still in a shock. And so we haven't done a lot with mental health yet. When the recoveries centers open up, with the Red Cross, then they will have mental health people there.

DORNIN: So many problems to be solved here and recovery has only just begun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN (on camera): And the recovery for the family where I'm standing here is going to be very long. This was the Gantner (ph) Nursery in Lady Lake. They lost a family member. The grandmother was thrown from the house over here across the debris. She was killed.

The grandfather, 89 years old. And he was in this bed, found by his grandson alive. He's in the hospital in critical condition.

But the family is in a very bad way and they are waiting for the insurance company. They have got very little insurance. Apparently because the grandparents lived here FEMA doesn't want to give them any help because they're not the primary residents here. And so at this point they're wondered what kind of insurance they're going to get. They've lost everything in the nursery and they've also lost a family member.

Rick?

SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting, Rusty? Those of us here in the NEWSROOM have been watching you and so many other correspondents there really been doing yeoman's work follow these stories. We always see something going on behind you, we see either houses or debris. Are you curious enough and have you been able to find out as you visit some of these really ruins what the story was there. Was it a house? Was it a building, as you told us in this case?

DORNIN: You know, here this was -- the house was actually over here. It was literally pulled off of its foundation and thrown over to the side there. And it just, as you can see, completely splintered. But it is a nursery business. There were 50,000 plants here. Every once in a while in the debris you will see some plants mixed in here.

But the grandparents lived on the property and they also ran the nursery business. But, hence, the problem there. Apparently they couldn't get insurance for greenhouses and things like that. So they've lost the plants, they've lost the greenhouses. The only thing they had insurance on was the mobile home itself, which they'll be able to get some money from. But FEMA is saying we can't really help you because the property owner wasn't living here, his parents were living here. So it gets very complicated.

SANCHEZ: Rusty Dornin following that for us. We thank you, Rusty.

Good news for some of the storm victims. Insurance adjusters and FEMA are already on the job at Florida's ground zero. Our Susan Candiotti is talking to some of the victims who have insurance and also some of those who don't. Hello, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rick. Indeed, some people had their insurance cancelled. Some people simply cannot afford the high cost of insurance in Florida, understandably. But this time FEMA says help is on the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were able to cut the trees away.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Sometimes it's hard to think about insurance when you're still reeling from what once was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our house is right here. We were one of the lucky ones.

CANDIOTTI: I'll say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just lost some part of the roof and the screen room. And a broken window on the back and one in the kitchen here.

CANDIOTTI: Louise Ogiter (ph) will have to pay for the repairs on her own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have no insurance because they told us our trailer was too old. And they cancelled just two years ago.

CANDIOTTI: The Hicklings' mobile home next door is a total loss and like their neighbors, they have also been living without insurance. Told their home built in 1979 was too old, too risky to ensure. They took their chances and lost.

Are you going to buy a new one?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably not. We'll probably buy a house some place if we buy again. Because these mobile homes might not be that sturdy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as we can get one new enough so they'll insure it. That's the main thing.

CANDIOTTI: For now relatives are loaning the Hicklings a camper. For those without backup plans, FEMA is now taking claims. Nikki Rainey, nursing a broken foot from the tornado, came looking for help.

Do you feel they'll come through?

NIKKI RAINEY, TORNADO VICTIM: I hope so. They have numbers for me to call.

CANDIOTTI: You're optimistic?

RAINEY: I'm optimistic. I'm alive. Everything else can be replaced. It doesn't matter.

With the inspections that were conducted yesterday, I would imagine the treasurer will have the checks printed and sent out Monday and maybe some of the first checks start arriving by mail on Tuesday.

CANDIOTTI: And in the middle of destruction, sitting outside what was their mother's home, Shawn and James Tooley (ph) are waiting for the insurance adjuster, time to allow themselves to think about something else. Let's say a certain football game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What else are you going to think about on a day like today. If you're not thinking about this, you might as well think about the Super Bowl. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take your mind off of this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (on camera): I imagine he is watching the football game right now, Rick. And FEMA also says because the State of Florida has told them there are enough temporary housing options in this area, for example, apartment space and hotels, motels, that for now FEMA has no intention of actually bringing in trailers to this area. So they seem to be able to get by for now. And, in fact, the last shelter, the only shelter really that was operating here, was scheduled to close down this day. Back to you.

SANCHEZ: Susan Candiotti, one of our team of reporters who have been following the story there in Lake County. Now we want to turn things over to Minnesota's own Jacqui Jeras, who doesn't even have to look at a map, she can call one of her friends or relatives in Minnesota to find out just how cold it is going to be there tonight.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Very cold, in fact, and Barris (ph), Minnesota had the coldest temperature across the nation today at 42 degrees below zero. That's not to mention wind chill. Find out when it's going to warm up and find out whether white-out conditions are still ongoing. Your forecast is coming up.

SANCHEZ: We look forward to it, Jacqui.

Well, after four years of fighting, the deadliest attacks on civilians yet. Now families in Iraq are keeping up the search for loved ones.

Plus the unlikely heroes of September 11th. Now the rescue dogs are sick and dying. That story in about 10 minutes. We're here in your NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: It does appear that they were all the result of some kind of anti- Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez.

What you just heard was the spokesman for the multinational force in Iraq explaining what brought down four U.S. helicopters in the last two weeks. Twenty-one Americans killed in those crashes. The discovery that it was ground fire may indicate insurgents are getting their hands on more sophisticated weapons that can more effectively target us aircraft.

Remember Afghanistan and the mujahideen and the Russians? Well, U.S. commanders are now saying that their forces are already having to adjust their procedures in light of these more recent attacks.

We're talking about bombings, and mortar attacks and drive-by shooting shootings more and more it seems. Baghdad saw, in fact, all of those today. Thirty-six people were killed. And the Iraqi government estimates a staggering 1,000 people lost their lives across the country just in the past seven days. A hundred twenty-eight of those deaths coming in that massive Baghdad market bombing yesterday. A lot of Iraqis are still trying to comes to grips somehow with that stunning attack. More now from CNN's Arwa Damon in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): "What did we do?" this man asks, standing amid the rubble of the deadliest single bombing since the start of the war. It's a question many are asking.

Innocent victims shopping when a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with one ton of explosives into a crowded marketplace. Entire building facades gone. The emotional devastation clear in the survivors' voices. "They are all gone, they are all gone," she says, breaking down into tears.

A day after Saturday's blast, frantic efforts to rescue anyone who might still be alive. But workers found only more bodies.

Families rummaged through the rubble trying to salvage whatever personal belongings remained. Shop owners tried to save their livelihood as body parts and chunks of flesh were collected, scenes too gruesome to show. "They brought his body with no head!" this woman wails.

The sounds of war never far away. Reminders that this could happen again at any time. Deep frustration, some directing their anger at the government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Al-Maliki says there will be a new security plan. Where is the security plan? Yeah, right, there will be a security plan.

DAMON: This street once again packed, not with wall-to-wall shoppers, but with those trying to find their remains.

(on camera): The magnitude of the Sudsiriya (ph) bombing is shocking. Many are viewing it as yet another attack against Baghdad's Shia population, intending only to further escalate the already spiraling sectarian violence.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: So as we follow the rest of the news and we bring it to you from inside the NEWSROOM where we have people who are researching and making calls to try and get the very latest information out of places like Iraq, we bring you this. Islamic centers in the United States now vandalized as well. Is that hatred we've been describing and showing you pictures of in Iraq also spilling over into communities here?

Also, they worked long, hard days and nights in the rubble of September 11th. You remember. Look at these pictures. Do you see that? That's one of those rescue dogs we've been telling you about. A lot of them are now dying for what they did.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and we're coming right back at you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back to CNN newsroom. I'm Rick Sanchez. We've got some pictures we want to show you. We want to start with this one. This is the police department in western Pennsylvania. They're using bloodhounds in the search for a missing two-year-old girl.

Now the NYIA page (ph) disappeared from her bed overnight Friday. Authorities aren't sure if she wandered off or was abducted.

Also this. Ryan O'Neal is out of jail on $50,000 bond. Malibu police arrested the 55-year old actor on charges of assaulting his son with a deadly weapon and the negligent discharge of a firearm. No one was treated for injuries in this case.

Unbelievable. An update on a dramatic rescue. This is in Crawford County, Arkansas. Friday, the five-year-old boy who was pulled from a frozen pond still in critical condition in a Little Rock hospital. He was submerged 10 feet for nearly an hour. And he's still hanging on. Our thoughts are certainly with him.

Now for more on that bitter temperature that we've been telling you about, let's go to our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras who knows a little bit about this from her own experiences growing up in Minnesota.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: When I talked to some of my college buddies in Minnesota and they talk about how the weather and how cold it is, for the rest of the nation, yeah, it's a big deal. But for them it's like, so what?

JERAS: Exactly. There was one record low today and that was in Grand Forks, North Dakota at 29 degrees below zero. So we're not even looking at records. But this is unusually cold for them. But they're celebrating, (inaudible) winter carnival wraps up today.

SANCHEZ: And watching the game. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

Many answered the call when help was needed on 9/11, among them scores of rescue dogs. Well now their owners are saying these dogs, too, are feeling the affects of working under the rubble. CNN's Carol Costello files this story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came from all over the country. Three-hundred dogs sniffing out life and death in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

DAVID VITALLI, RESCUE DOG OWNER: Health. Just health (ph). The dogs are breathing in things they shouldn't have been breathing in. They were having a hard time, they were coughing, they were sneezing.

COSTELLO: The conditions at Ground Zero were so intense that many of these dogs have been unable to perform another search and rescue. Some have died, like David's dog Jimmy and Scott's dog Bear.

Saul Aponte is worried about the lumps on Shannon's chest and stomach.

SAUL APONTE, RESCUE DOG OWNER: She already had an infection in her lungs when we got back. So she could have died. I'm pretty sure she would have died.

COSTELLO: Aponte's certainty comes in part because he is now sick himself.

APONTE: This is for my lungs.

COSTELLO: Those medicines were provided to Aponte free of charge after doctors determined his breathing and anxiety problems are related to his work at Ground Zero. Nearly a third of the 300 dogs at Ground Zero have died since September 11th. The question is, why?

Dr. Cynthia Otto, a veterinarian, conducted a major study on 9/11 dogs and found no evidence Ground Zero made the dogs sick.

DR. CYNTHIA OTTO, VETERINARIAN: We surveyed 97 of the handlers, 61 that were at the World Trade center. And of those we only had, I believe, eight dogs that had any evidence of respiratory problems.

VITALLI: Everybody that was working there has some sort of illness. So to make a statement that the dogs didn't get sick and the people did, that is totally just a ludicrous statement to even make.

COSTELLO: Dr. Otto disagrees. She says it's challenging to determine exactly what killed the dogs.

APONTE: I'm not sure how long she's going to live but she's a special dog to me. We have been through a lot. We went through a life experience that nobody could, you know, repeat or take away from us.

COSTELLO (on camera): And that's what he tries to dwell on, not the pain or loss of Shannon, but the bond they created trying to save lives in those terrible days. Carol Costello, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: Sectarian violence, it's not only part of life in Iraq, it seems to be pitting Muslims against Muslims here in the United States as well. Who is to blame? We'll get into that. Also, the U.S.'s most vulnerable city to tornadoes. Do you know what it? History holds the answer and so do we.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And I am Rob Marciano in Lake County, where they continue to sift through the rubble. Today we went out with some experts who surveyed the damage to determine just how strong these twisters were.

We'll take you to the center of the forecast coming up on the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM, as we bring you up to date on all the stories that we're following. Of course, experts with the National Weather Service are now saying it wasn't one but three tornadoes that touched down early Friday in east central Florida. We'll following that up for you.

And then NATO is saying that a precision air strike killed a Taliban commander near the southern Afghan town of Musa Qala. It happened overnight, Taliban fighters have just taken control of the town two days ago.

A pair of astronauts finished the second of three scheduled space walks at the International Space Station. The mission, installing a new central cooling system for that station.

Friendly division within the U.S. ranks, at least as far as soldiers that are stationed in Iraq are concerned. Despite Miami and the big game being 7,000 miles away, they said, the heck with it, we're going to have our own game, by golly. The inaugural Baghdad Bowl kicked off today. A snippet of it will be shown during tonight's Super Bowl. Good for them.

It looks like in this case, hmm, the Bears are winning as well. There was a fumble.

Well, let's delve a little deeper now into how investigators have determined that three different tornadoes have been tearing through central Florida early Friday. And this is interesting, because, you know, when you first get the news of these stories, you know that a tornado came through, but you don't know with how much ferocity, how many tornadoes. But then the investigators come in. And they start looking at things like trees that are toppled. Trees with pieces of wood through them and things like that. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano knows all about this. He is live from Lake County.

Rob, what have you been finding out today?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I have learned a lot of stuff, Rick. When you look at the rubble and the damage that is so widespread here in central Florida, you know, it's hard to make sense where the storm came from or where the center of the vortex is, and really, how strong the storm is.

And like you said, experts from the National Weather Service, they come in from the National Weather Service local offices. I spoke with a gentleman today who actually flew in from Norman, Oklahoma. That's Tornado Alley out there. If they don't know what they're talking about there -- you know, you can't find a better person.

But he took me around today and we went to the most heavily damaged areas to kind of see how he determines how big the storm is and how strong those winds were.

Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: All I see is just everything thrown that way. But you see some sort of pattern.

JIM LADUE, NOAA METEOROLOGIST: I see confluence coming in and debris coming into the northeast, on the south side of the track, coming in from the northwest to the southeast here, on the north side of the track. And so I'm...

MARCIANO: Wedging in.

LADUE: Yes. A literal confluence on coming in like that.

MARCIANO: So how wide was this thing when it came through here?

LADUE: I would say it's roughly about 1,000 feet wide. But you know, a lot of that is a lot weaker winds. It's just light damage. And as you get closer to the center of the vortex, the damage increases rapidly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: And right in the center of that vortex, man, it's like a huge bulldozer just came plowing through. We're here in the western part of Lake County where the F3 tornado also came through, maybe a little bit weaker. But they have cleared this place up quite a bit. This place has been cleaned up quite a bit.

But what was left here, this is a (INAUDIBLE) palm tree. There was a piece of furniture, a coffee table lodged in here. And this is a piece of that piece of furniture that was lodged right in there, right into the tree a good two to three inches to give you an idea of the velocity and the force that one of these EF tornadoes can throw at a tree like that, Rick.

Over 160 mile-an-hour winds is what they estimated two of the three tornadoes to have. And as you mentioned, there were three. But most likely they came from the same big thunderstorm as that storm moved from the western part of the state off towards the East Coast.

SANCHEZ: That's great. That's a cool show and tell. If anything explains it, certainly that does. Rob Marciano, thanks so much for bringing us that report.

We want to know more about tornadoes, and in an average year, we learn that there is about 1,000 tornadoes that are reported in the United States. But how bad can they get? How big can they get? We really wanted to know this. So I did a little research myself. Here's what I found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): As bad as any one tornado can be, an outbreak is even worse. And in early April, 1974, something called a super outbreak hit 13 states across the Southeast and then stretched all the way to the Midwest. Imagine 147 tornadoes hitting within a time span of only 16 hours, 147.

When it was finally over, 330 people were killed and more than 5,000 injured. Because national weather forecasters didn't have today's technology, there was no way to spot or warn residents about storms until they were already on the ground.

But tornadoes don't have to come in bunches to have a huge impact. Case in point, the monster tornado that hit Hallam, Nebraska, in May of 2004. Experts call it the largest twister ever recorded. The National Weather Service says it measured two-and-a-half miles across.

It also spawned 19 smaller twisters, destroyed 158 homes, injured 57 people. And miraculously killed just one. But this in a remote town with a population of only 276 people.

How fast can tornado winds actually get? Well, more than 300 miles an hour, according to experts. In fact, one tornado in Bridge Creek, Oklahoma, in 1999 was measured at 318 miles an hour. It destroyed 850 homes and killed 44 people in the surrounding area.

Then there's this question. What city in the United States seems to be the most prone to tornadoes? That distinction belongs to Oklahoma City. Since weather records have been recorded, it's been hit more than 100 times. The city itself, not the suburbs.

The biggest, the worst, the fastest, those are the numbers, for one of nature's most unpredictable killers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: I also wanted to tell you about the deadliest tornado and I wanted to put it in that report, but I wasn't able to, you know why? Couldn't find any video of it. And you know why? Because it happened back in 1925. It hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, are you ready for this? It killed 695 people that day.

Now, the war in Iraq and what it may be doing to Muslims here in the United States. Something that tends to parallel what's going on in Iraq. In Detroit, vandalism aimed at mosques and the Muslim-owned shops and businesses. It's beginning to raise some suspicions. People aren't sure who is behind these attacks. But some believe it's a symptom of the split that divides Iraq's Muslims, and a product of the war itself. Talking to us now about this, first from Dearborn, Michigan, Ramy Shabana, the Muslim Students Association at the University of Michigan at Dearborn. And then from Washington we have Ibrahim Hooper. He's of the Council of American Islamic Relations.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us. Ibrahim, let me begin with you. Have you seen this trend as well and what can you tell us about it?

IBRAHIM HOOPER, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Well, we don't want to exaggerate this trend. But the mere fact that there are suspicions when these kinds of things happen in Michigan indicates there's some level of concern there. So it's an issue we have to address. But we don't want to exaggerate it. We...

SANCHEZ: Well, we are not -- yes, we don't want to exaggerate it, but we want to know, because we are now so interested in, you know, the differentiation, of course, between the Shias and the Sunnis, things that Americans in the past haven't known anything about. So suddenly we're into these tendencies and we certainly find it interesting.

Ramy, have you seen any of these yourself?

RAMY SHABANA, MUSLIM STUDENTS ASSOCIATION, UNIV. OF MICH. AT DEARBORN: Honestly, I haven't. I mean, as the president of the Muslim Students Association on campus and just as a student, especially on the Dearborn campus, you see that there's a large majority of Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims. And we seem to get along just fine. So I also agree...

SANCHEZ: So when the -- let me stop you for a minute. When The New York Times reports that there are some people who they talk to in the area around Dearborn, Michigan, and you're probably less apt to find this in a college environment, when they report that there people who are a little concerned about, for example, identifying their particular religion or type of religion, do you find that -- does it surprise you? Let me go there.

SHABANA: It wouldn't surprise me if a few people were to partake in the -- I think...

SANCHEZ: Why would they do that then? Why would they do that then?

SHABANA: Well, I mean, you could -- you know, you can't have an explanation for that. There are some people who don't have as much understanding. They don't have the depth of knowledge. And they're just going to portray the hate in any way possible.

But as I'm saying, on our campus at least with the Muslim Students Association, all the Muslims, we definitely promote the understanding of each other, of all schools of thought.

HOOPER: And I think it's that...

SANCHEZ: Go ahead, Ibrahim. Yes, go ahead.

HOOPER: It's definitely, if there is tension, it's a spill-over from the horrible situation we see in Iraq where growing sectarian violence is leading to more and more deaths every day. And we would hate to see that translated into America and we're going to do everything we can to keep that from happening.

SANCHEZ: Does it bother you?

HOOPER: It bothers me. The sectarian violence in Iraq bothers me. I wish that wasn't happening.

SANCHEZ: Yes, but ...

HOOPER: And to our...

SANCHEZ: Let me interrupt you just for a moment. I don't mean just what's going on in Iraq. We all know what's going on in Iraq. But now we're reading reports that Sunnis are going after Shias in countries in the region as well, whereas in the past they go along pretty well, in fact.

HOOPER: Yes. I think again what we're seeing is resulting from this tragic situation in Iraq. It just indicates all the more that we need to do whatever we can to resolve that situation and get out.

SANCHEZ: Ramy, back to you. Do you have any problems identifying yourself as either a Sunni or a Shiite? I don't know what you are, but would you among your friends?

SHABANA: Absolutely not. And that's the point I'm trying to make, is that on campus we're so comfortable with each other and we're so united that, you know, I mean -- I think that from The New York Times, these instances have been exaggerated. Now the whole nation is going to think that these are happening every day, every hour. But we get along just fine.

SANCHEZ: It's interesting to hear you guys explain that. And it certainly is good to find out that, at least in your estimation, it's not a huge deal here in the United States. To most Americans there never would have been a huge distinction had it not been for what is going on in Iraq. But we will certainly continue to follow it. And both of you, Ibrahim Hooper, Ramy Shabana, we thank you both for taking time to talk to us about this today. We appreciate it.

HOOPER: Thanks for having me.

SHABANA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Sure. There is no question that the Iraq War is affecting every single one of us in one way or another. Economically alone the war is going to have a cost of $400 billion now we learn by next summer. So we did our research and we found out that with that money, did you know, every college student could get $23,000 in tuition in the United States? That could be your son or daughter. And that 94 million Americans could have medical insurance with that $400 billion? By the way, only 46 million Americans are currently insured -- or are currently uninsured, I should say, pardon me.

Well, we wanted to know what you think. So we're starting something new here on weekends now. We found an empty studio here at CNN and used it to talk to the 12,000 of tourists who take the CNN tour every day. In fact, you're looking at our atrium here at CNN. This is where a lot of these tourists come through. It's a fancy place.

But we want to take you in the studio with them now. We call this, "America, You Say What?"

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANET MARSH, SENECA, SOUTH CAROLINA: First of all, I want to say that as an American I don't want $400 billion to go there and to a large extent cause more death and destruction.

SANCHEZ: So what do you think?

ALICIA CEDRONE, GROTON CONNECTICUT: I think it's atrocious that any money goes outside the United States before it takes care of our own.

SANCHEZ: You think the money should have been kept here.

CEDRONE: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: You would have loved that $23,000 to help pay your kids' -- put them through school and pay tuition, right?

CEDRO NE: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: You believe we should do everything we can to secure our country first?

JOHN LOEBER, CARMEL, INDIANA: Yes, I do.

SANCHEZ: I have got a stat for you. You ready? With $400 billion, we could have built a 12-foot concrete wall two feet thick and painted on both sides along the whole border of the United States and Mexico, plus the rest of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii 20 times over.

LOEBER: Well, that's interesting.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Nobody here agrees that the cause in Iraq is necessary to eliminate those terrorists who are there?

MARIAN WEISS, WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS: We're making more terrorists.

SANCHEZ: You think we're making more terrorists?

WEISS: I absolutely think we're making more terrorists by our policy. LUANN LOEBER, TRAVELERS REST, SOUTH CAROLINA: I assumed that there was going to be more of a plan once we got in there what we were going to do doing. And I think that's where our government has failed us.

TRACEY TOKUHANA-ESPINOSA, LIMA, PERU: I'm sorry to say that our reputation around the world as global citizens has just plummeted.

SANCHEZ: What do you say to people who say, you know what, if you're critical of this war effort, then by golly you are not a patriot.

STEVE CARPENTER, BOYDS, MARYLAND: That's freedom of speech. And that's what you're to supposed to have as being an American. You're supposed to be able to speak as you feel.

SANCHEZ: But you're hurting the troops.

CARPENTER: No. You're saying what is correct.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Interesting to hear people say what they think is correct. Average Americans like you. We randomly picked those panelists, by the way, from the CNN tours here. We hope to do the same thing every week. Some told us that they were conservative, some told us they were liberal. Most described themselves as somewhere in the middle.

We also talked to them about something else, Tyra Banks. This past week she screamed, she cried because she's tired of being told that suddenly she's too fat. Tyra Banks, a former fashion model, of all things. She goes off. I mean, she goes off. And you'll see it. I'll have that for you tonight right here at 10:00 Eastern.

Also, in about ten minutes, we have a story to tell you about a surgery that has gone wrong. The doctor said it was a simple procedure. So why is this young woman dead?

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm in the control room now surrounded by some of the people who really work hard to bring you this newscast. And they wanted me to share some information with you. So in case you missed it, these are some of the highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows.

The possibility of a looming budget battle. It tongues a- wagging. A point of contention, President Bush's latest spending request which he sends to Congress tomorrow. First on CNN's "LATE EDITION," White House Budget Director Rob Portman confirmed the president wants an additional $100 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE FROM "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER")

ROB PORTMAN, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET DIRECTOR: It's being used on the global war on terror, including Iraq. And even with these expenditures which are very important, and including expenditures to protect the homeland, we still have seen a reduction in our deficit the last couple of years by a substantial amount. And going forward, the president has laid out not only declining deficits every year, but a balanced budget within five years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And there is another big talking point, President Bush's decision to boost troop levels in Iraq and several non-binding resolutions for and against the plan. The U.S. Senate is expected to debate those proposals just this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS")

JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I actually believe that what the president and Cheney are counting on is that what we'll do is we'll talk about it, we'll complain about it, we'll talk about how bad the escalation is, but at the end of the day we'll go along. We cannot go along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "FOX NEWS SUNDAY")

SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: What has been irresponsible has been the administration coming forward with solutions -- or so-called solutions that simply go back to the well again and again to the military without addressing the elephant in the bedroom. And the elephant in the bedroom is dealing with Iran and Syria.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: And this idea that our key to success in Iraq is through Syria and Iran is naive. The things that unite Syria and Iran, the one thing that unites Syria and Iran is that they don't want a democracy in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "ABC THIS WEEK")

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There has been a failed policy and we've paid a very heavy price for it in American blood and treasure. And that's one of the great tragedies of this war. I also believe the consequences of failure are such that you will see a level of violence that far exceeds anything that we have seen.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: That resolution states very clearly we disagree with adding more troops into Iraq. Very simply put, we disagree with escalating our military involvement in Iraq. That is totally different, George, than saying, let's get out, let's cut the funds. This notion is somehow we're not supporting our troops, that's not true. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Remember, CNN is the place to see the first presidential debates of the season, live from New Hampshire. It is April 4th and 5th.

Boy, have we got a story for you in case you have ever considered some kind of surgery. It's considered to be pretty safe, right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody should die from cosmetic surgery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: One young woman did die after having cosmetic surgery. And now her mother wants some answers. We do too. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We've got some news to share with you. It came just moments ago. The information that we're getting, first of all, we're going to tell you the information as we've been following it. We're getting it right off of this computer here. Remember, we told you, police in western Pennsylvania are losing bloodhounds now, and they've been missing a 2-year-old girl, Nyia Page. She disappeared from her bed overnight Friday.

The news we are getting now -- and confirm this for me, guys, Jen (ph). The news is that they have found her alive and well. Alive and well, there you have it. Police are saying now that they have found her and we're only too happy to report that.

That they have found -- let's check that once again. They're saying that they have found her body. That's the bad news in this case. All right. We apologize for that. The information just coming into us right now that they have found her body. Again, the little girl's name is Nyia Page. Disappeared from her bed overnight Friday. Authorities aren't sure yet if she had wandered off or had been abducted.

And all we have right now, again, this Information just coming into us. And we were a little unsure because we were just getting the information as we were ready to come on to you. We had reports that they had just found her, weren't sure what her condition was. And now we're getting the really sad news. It's always difficult to tell for anybody, including a parent like myself, that the little girl has been found dead. We'll continue to get information on that and we'll be sharing it with you.

Meanwhile, doctors are calling it rhinoplasty. And the rest of us, of course, have called it a nose job. The procedure is so common, most people assume it involves very little risk. Well, that's not always the case.

Fredricka Whitfield explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TALLY GLISKO, MOTHER: You see her handwriting, everything was organized.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Tally Glisko, it's painful to go through her daughter Mor's room, untouched since the day she left for nose surgery last November.

GLISKO: Eleven-twenty-first, 2006, this was the last thing that she was writing.

WHITFIELD: Mor Glisko was an 18-year-old honor student with dreams of becoming a corporate lawyer. She thought a routine nose procedure might help correct damage caused from a car accident.

GLISKO: It was a gift (ph) to fix her nose that was broken in the accident. It was very damaging, the accident.

WHITFIELD: Glisko took her daughter to Dr. Yoel Shahar's office in Manhattan. She said the doctor assured her there was nothing to worry about.

GLISKO: One two three, she would make the surgery, she would go into the recovery room. After two hours, she's in the house.

WHITFIELD: Glisko left the doctor's office briefly, only to return to a nightmare.

GLISKO: And the doctor came from the other room -- other room, tell me, Tally, I'm sorry, your daughter's heart stopped beating.

WHITFIELD: While in Dr. Shahar's office, Mor went into a coma. She was rushed to the hospital where she later died. Glisko says some three months later, she still doesn't know the details of what happened that day.

GLISKO: Dr. Yoel Shahar blamed the anesthesia doctor, James Spencer. James Spencer blamed Yoel Shahar.

WHITFIELD: The Gliskos are suing both doctors and the New York State Health Department is investigating. CNN asked both doctors for on-camera interviews, but both declined, instead providing these statements through their lawyers.

Quote: "We have extended our condolences to the Glisko. Dr. Shahar is a fine surgeon, and this is a tragedy for everyone involved. He did nothing wrong." Endquote.

Quote: "Dr. Spencer's heart goes out to the parents of this child. He did nothing wrong. It appears there was an allergic reaction to one of the medications." Endquote.

Dr. Andrew Jacono is a board-certified plastic surgeon who performs roughly 2,000 cosmetic procedures a year. He says rhinoplasty is typically a very safe procedure.

DR. ANDREW JACONO, PLASTIC SURGEON: The elective cosmetic surgery is generally procedures that don't involve vital organs. They aren't involved in manipulations of portions of the body that could cause somebody to die. So nobody should die from cosmetic surgery.

WHITFIELD: That's a hard statement for Glisko to accept, as she still mourns the loss of her daughter.

Fredricka Whitfield, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And of course, we're going to continue to follow the news here from you -- for you from the CNN NEWSROOM, including a CNN special investigation that we're going to be telling you about, "The Town that Fought Back." Our Kathleen Koch returns to her hometown in Mississippi to see how it's recovering now from Hurricane Katrina. It's "The Town that Fought Back." It's next at 8:00.

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